Trance Awake
by Sakuyan
Summary: Nero was more insightful than Dante had given the kid credit for. He also had no idea that the kid had lost someone close to his heart, just as the half devil himself had.


A/N: I have been obsessively listening to "Trance Awake" by Lacuna Coil, which gave me the idea for this little number. I have been writing "Demonic Humanity" obsessively, so I decided to give myself a break by writing this. What is Demonic Humanity, you ask? A Vergil x Sagi fanfic with a sprinkle of Dante x Kalas. Yup. I wrote that.

It would be a good idea if you listened to "Trance Awake" by Lacuna Coil while reading this. You don't have to, though.

Warning: Spoilers for the ending of Devil May Cry 3.

Pairing: Implied Dante/Nero, past Vergil/Dante and Credo/Nero.

Now then, onto Lacuna Coil inspired fics!

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><p><strong>Trance Awake<strong>

It had been another eventful day of demon hunting. Dante put the day's earnings on his desk, knowing that Lady would soon return to pick up the money. The magazine that was left abandoned on his desk had been closed and set neatly on the side, causing the devil hunter to snort and sit down. "It was probably the kid," he muttered to himself as he picked up the magazine, "he's such a neat freak."

Dante happened to look over the top of the magazine, and there, next to a picture of his mother, was a picture of his brother. He tried to ignore the growing feeling of sadness in his chest, but he gave in after five minutes of fighting it. The devil hunter picked up the picture of his lost brother, running his finger over the frame. Vergil was staring with an annoyed expression on his face while his hand was reaching for his sword, Yamato. Dante stared at the sword, wishing that he had taken it from the kid when he offered, but he shrugged. "Can't change the past."

"What are you muttering about, old man?" a voice spoke, and Dante averted his eyes from the picture to stare at Nero, "What's that?" he reached for the picture, and the devil hunter considered not letting the kid see it, but he rolled his eyes at the thought. He handed the picture to Nero, and the kid looked at it with narrowed eyes. "Is this your brother?"

"That's Verge," Dante replied, taking the picture from Nero, "the complete opposite of me."

"Lady told me about him," Nero mumbled, but he glared when the devil hunter yelled "What was that?" with a grin on his face, "I said 'Lady told me about him.' She said that he was the perfect picture of a demon."

"Tch. Ol' Vergil wasn't that bad." Dante said, staring at the picture with a smile tugging on his lips. "Sure, he was a bastard and ran me through, but I think he was trying to make me see that we need some kind of power to protect those we care about as well as ourselves." The half devil noticed the kid's look of confusion, so he clarified, "When he ran me through, he said, and I quote, "Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything, let alone yourself." You see what I mean?"

Nero smirked, confusing the devil hunter. "Sounds like he was protecting you, in his own twisted way."

Dante raised an eyebrow, snorting in amusement. "Protecting me? Vergil? He couldn't give me the time of day, so why would he protect me? If anything, he wanted to kill me, and then spit on my corpse."

The younger devil hunter heard the sound of bitterness in the older man's tone. Dante was good at hiding his emotions to most, but to Nero, he was an open book. The two years that he had spent with the red clad man fighting demons as well as sharing old stories back and forth was enough for Nero to pick out different emotions in the older man's voice. "If he said what you said he did, why would he say that you couldn't protect yourself unless you awakened your demonic side?" The younger devil hunter put up a hand to silence Dante when he opened his mouth to speak, "Shut up for a second, will ya? Brothers, particulary twins, will always share a bond. No matter what happens, a bond between twins can never be broken. Vergil hated you, but he also loved you, because you were his twin brother. In his own twisted way, he wanted to help you, to make sure you didn't die. He was blinded by his desire to get power, you were blinded by your anger at him, and you were both blinded by your hatred of each other, but in the end, you still shared a bond. A bond that no one could break, not even now."

The older devil hunter leaned back in his chair, his eyes wide in shock as to what the kid said. He opened and closed his mouth, finding no words to counter what he said, and it annoyed him because he always found some way to counter what a person said. He planted his feet on the desk, glaring at Nero when a smug grin came onto the kid's face. "Yeah, well, it's too late now. Vergil is gone because of me. I killed him with my own sword."

Nero sat down on the desk, causing Dante to give him a look of confusion. "You loved him, didn't ya old man? You can tell me. I won't run around telling Lady and Trish," he avoided Dante's foot when it tried to kick him off the desk, and leaned close to the devil hunter's face, "I promise."

Dante snorted and stared at the creaking fan, refusing to show any facial emotions in front of the kid. "Like I said kid, it doesn't matter. Why the fuck are you playing mother all of a sudden anyway?"

Nero gave the older man a slap in the face, causing the older man to give him a heated glare. "You're acting strange, that's why. Besides, aren't friends supposed to be concerned if one of their friends are acting weird?"

The half devil sighed, knowing that Nero was right. He took his feet off the desk and stood up, taking Rebellion off the wall. "I murdered Vergil ten years ago today. Are ya happy now, kid?"

The younger devil hunter set a hand on the older man's shoulder. "You can show your emotions, ya know. What, you think I'm gonna laugh at you or something?" Dante's eyes set themselves on his face, but Nero continued, "well, I won't. I know what it's like to lose someone close to you, someone you loved."

"You do, huh?" Dante murmured, setting Rebellion on his back. He tookhis twin guns and put them in their holsters on his back, and began to walk out the door, noticing that the kid was following behind him, "You gonna stalk me now, kid?"

Nero punched Dante's shoulder, and the two laughed for a while before Nero's face went serious. "Credo. I loved him, just as you loved Vergil."

Dante stopped in his tracks, turning around to see Nero had stopped as well. His head was down, and his devil bringer was pulsing an angry blue. "How do you know that I—"

"I know, because you acted the same way around Vergil that I did around Credo. Lady told me," he interjected before Dante could cut him off, "that you tried not to hurt him as bad as he hurt you. She also told me that you cried after he fell into the demon world. That alone tells me that you cared about him."

Dante muttered angrily about meddling women before he felt Nero's demon arm on his shoulder. He looked the kid in the eyes, noticing the pain hidden behind the blue crystals. A heavy sigh passed through him as he took the kid into his arms, feeling warm tears on his neck. The older man rubbed Nero's back as he felt tears building into his own eyes, but he gritted his teeth and held them back. He cried twice in his life, and twice was enough.

"We can get through the pain together, Dante." Nero whispered against the half devil's neck, and seconds later, he felt Dante bury his head into his snow white hair. He felt warm tears in his hair, and he wrapped his arms around the older devil hunter. He knew that Dante was a proud man, but he also knew that people, even half devils, had to cry and let the inner pain out.

"Thanks kid," he heard Dante murmur against his hair, and the younger devil hunter smiled to himself. They both had devil's blood in their veins, but even devils cried when they lost a loved one.

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><p>Whew. Fluffy!angst anyone? I did my best to make sure that the characters were as in character as possible, so please don't hesitate to tell me if I succeeded or failed. Constructive criticism, as always, is welcomed and encouraged.<p> 


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